__Matchmaker, Matchmaker__
By Gibberish



Buffy ran a frustrated hand through her hair. She sat next to Giles on the couch in the Library. "We're not getting anywhere." She sighed.

"It would appear that way." Giles agreed. He looked around at the others, who seemed to be having no better luck. "It would help, of course, if we knew what we were looking for."

"I'm sorry." Buffy said quietly.

Giles looked at her. "Buffy, this isn't your fault."

"I should be able to see it." Buffy said. "Why can't I see it?"

Scarlet looked at her. "None of us have seen it, Buffy." She pointed out.

Buffy didn't seem to hear her, though. "Big, dark shadow with claws. What kind of a description is that?"

"The only one we got." Xander replied.

"What if that's all there is?" Dawn asked.

Faith looked at her. "What?"

"I mean, what if that's all there is?" Dawn asked again. "Maybe there isn't any other description, because that's all there is."

"Are you thinking that it is only a shadow?" Giles asked in dawning realization. "Non corporeal?"

"Why not?" Dawn asked uncertainly in response.

Buffy and Giles looked at each other. "Why not, indeed." Giles replied.

"How do I kill something like that?" Buffy wanted to know.

"Well, it would have to be corporeal to hurt you." Giles explained. "That would be when you could inflict the most damage."

"When it can hurt me, I can hurt it." Buffy concluded succinctly.

"*We* can hurt it." Faith stated firmly.

"It means we can focus our research." Giles said.

"No," Robin said. "It means *we* can. Between this creature, and Dawn, you two haven't had a break in weeks."

"He's right, you know." Dawn said sadly, almost guiltily.

"I think we can get along without you for a few hours." Robin continued.

"We can look after Dawn." Willow assured them.

Buffy looked at them oddly. "Are you trying to get rid of us?"

"Nothing permanent." Xander told her.

"They are trying to help." Tyrus said, appearing from nowhere.

"What are we supposed to do?" Buffy asked.

"There are museums, a zoo." Willow suggested. Buffy gave her a look. "Or, maybe not."

"Take a walk." Robin suggested. "Take a drive."

"Take each other." Faith muttered.

"Just... Get away from all this for a while." Robin said over Faith's comment.

"Buffy, you need a break." Xander said seriously. "Both of you. Go do something else. Go *think* about something else."

"You haven't seen these dreams, Xander." Buffy pointed out solemnly.

"You're the only one who doesn't die." A newer girl, Nina, said. "What are you afraid of?"

There was a long silence.

"That is what she's afraid of." Robin stated.

Nina was contrite. "That didn't come out the way I meant it to."

Buffy simply stood and left the room, followed swiftly by Giles.

"I *really* didn't mean it the way it sounded." Nina said in small voice.

"You just hit a nerve." Dawn said quietly.

"A big jagged one." Faith added. "B's not afraid of dyin'."

"Been there, done that." Xander said. "Twice actually."

"See, Buffy's afraid of one of us dying." Kennedy explained. "Of letting us down. Of losing more of us."

"Even though she knows that it's inevitable." Robin stated.

"Isn't that contradictory?" Nina asked.

"That's Buffy." Willow said.

"Buffy couldn't tell you how many lives she's saved." Xander told her.

"None of us could, and that's not even counting the Apocalypses. But she could tell you how many she hasn't, possibly with names."

"What about all of you?" Nina asked uncertainly. "We're all trained..."

"Raise your hand if Buffy's saved your life." Xander called out. All, but three, raised their hands, one of whom was Nina.

Tyrus looked at the three girls. "You may as well raise your hands. You just never even knew you were in danger. You see, Buffy has saved the world in the most literal sense. None of us would be here, including myself, if not for her." He looked around the room. "She has had help, but in the end it came down to her."

"Buffy's been in Heaven, and Hell, and come back from both." Willow said quietly.

"It's all in her eyes, if you dare to look." Andrew told them.

* * * * *

Buffy sat in the passenger's seat of the car, uncaring of where Giles drove. "Do you think they're right?" She finally asked.

"Probably." Giles replied. "I know I'm bloody tired of all of it, and I'm not dreaming about it."

"It's more than that, you know." Buffy said, almost amused.

"You mean their less than subtle attempts at matchmaking?" Giles asked.

"If they only knew." Buffy commented.

Giles reached out and took her hand in his. "Knew what?" He asked softly.

"That Tyrus beat them to it." Buffy quipped. Then, she looked at him seriously. "That I finally figured out that you make me whole."

"As you do me." Giles responded.

"Think we should tell them?" Buffy asked.

"What, and ruin their fun?" Giles asked with a grin in return.

* * * * *

"I wonder where they went?" Willow mused aloud.

"Knowing Giles, wherever Buffy wanted." Xander answered without looking up from his book.

"How can they be so blind?" Kennedy asked exasperated.

Faith almost laughed. "When was the last time you saw Buffy agree to anything that easy before?"

Several of them stared at her. "What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"She means that the two of them gave in a little too easily." Dawn replied. "Don't you think?"

"So, they wanted to go off together?" Kennedy asked.

"Why?" Nina asked confused.

"Let's just say that before too long, we'll have an extra bedroom." Faith replied.

"Faith!" Willow admonished with a glance at Dawn.

"Oh, don't worry about me." Dawn told them. "I've been waiting for this for quite some time."

"How long of a time?" Xander wondered.

"Since you brought her back." Dawn explained quietly. "Giles was the only one she was really happy to see." She half shrugged. "When he left ..."

"Yeah." Xander said in understanding.

"She was so hurt." Dawn said. "I don't think she even knew why. She felt abandoned on levels even Angel never reached."

"How do you know all that?" Willow asked.

"She talks in her sleep." Dawn explained. "She would call for him. A lot."

"I never ..." Willow began.

"You weren't in the room next to her's." Dawn pointed out. "It took me a while to understand what it all meant."

"Not as long as it took her." Xander said.

"She was afraid of being hurt again. " Dawn told them. "He'd left, like all the other's."

"But Giles came back." Willow pointed out.

"Then he left again." Dawn continued. "When he came back again ..."

"He helped kick her out of her own house." Faith stated flatly.

"Worse." Dawn explained. "He made it clear that he didn't believe in her."

"He was terrified when we couldn't find her." Willow said.

"Then, we came here." Kennedy said.

"They couldn't ignore what was right in front of them any longer." Dawn said. "They became a unit without even realizing it." Dawn smiled. "And then they did realize it."

"But why not say anything?" Kennedy asked.

Willow summed it up in three words. "Mom and Dad."

"They didn't want us to make fun of them." Xander concluded quietly.

"They'll get over it." Faith stated. "In the meantime, we'll keep giving them excuses to slip away."

"How long do we pretend not to know?" Willow asked.

"Until they're ready to tell us." Robin told them sternly.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Giles had driven them to Lake Eerie. He and Buffy walked along the beach hand in hand. The sky was clear, the sun was bright, and for a brief moment in time; all was right with the world.

* * *